Abstract:
It is anecdotally said that the acquisition of English alters the communicative style, behaviour patterns and values of Japanese native speakers. This research explored this phenomenon by interviewing nine Japanese-English coordinate bilinguals and analysing the context of the acquisition of English for each subject. This resulted in some hypotheses regarding factors which cause the changes.
These factors were used as independent variables for a questionnaire, whose results were obtained from 78 Japanese-English coordinate bilinguals. Dependent variables were questions related to the changes of Japanese communicative style and values towards the Anglophone culture.
Bivariate tests identified significant factors related to the change of Japanese communicative style and values. The positive factors for change in the direction of English communicative style were the duration of stay in Anglophone countries, the amount of interaction with native speakers, the amount of exposure to English, the amount of use of English in working situations and the proficiency in English.
These factors were used as independent variables for a questionnaire, whose results were obtained from 78 Japanese-English coordinate bilinguals. Dependent variables were questions related to the changes of Japanese communicative style and values towards the Anglophone culture.
Bivariate tests identified significant factors related to the change of Japanese communicative style and values. The positive factors for change in the direction of English communicative style were the duration of stay in Anglophone countries, the amount of interaction with native speakers, the amount of exposure to English, the amount of use of English in working situations and the proficiency in English.